Prediction: Yankees' Ian Kennedy will beat the Angels tonight

As much as I respect the hard work Vincenzo did last night in Trenton, I feel compelled to address the real world, and pitchers who have professional pride, desire to pitch and might possibly help the Yankees in 2008.

To that end, I give you Ian Kennedy, who starts tonight in Anaheim. I know he's one of the major disappointments of the season. I know there was little, if any, evidence earlier this season that he was ready to pitch in the big leagues. I saw it up close, and I agree.

However, I think it's going to be different this time.

Why? Call it a hunch, but I have a reasonable theory to back it up, and it has to do with where Kennedy is coming from now as opposed to where he was in April.

Kennedy has spent the past month in Scranton, with his buddies, yukking it up and enjoying minor-league life in a place where teaching English profanity to Kei Igawa ranks among the top leisure time activities. In his past four starts in Triple-A, he has a 1.33 ERA, 20 strikeouts and five walks in 27 innings. He's on a roll, and while he's been pitching in the minors and those numbers won't necessarily translate to a game against the Angels, they're all about confidence, which is what Kennedy needs.

When the season started, Kennedy and Phil Hughes were in the starting rotation, carrying the pressure of playing major roles in a pennant race. No one paid much attention to the fact that Kennedy was still just 24, incredibly inexperienced as a professional and might not be up to the task. He didn't face on-field adversity in his call-up last September, so there was no way to know how he was going to handle it. Obviously, he didn't handle it well.

Contrast that to last year. When Kennedy was called up to replace Mike Mussina in the rotation, he was in the minors and pitching well. He'd posted a 2.08 ERA in six starts for Scranton, and he came up to the majors throwing sharp, confident strikes, which translated into success.

Coming from Scranton this time, as opposed to coming right out of spring training into the fire, is bound to help Kennedy. He got into a bad rut right away in April and had no idea how to get out of it. The next time it happens, he might be better equipped to handle the situation. But what's more important now is that he's returning to the majors with a little bit of swagger. He's been getting people out for the last couple of weeks, and the feeling that gives him will serve him well tonight and beyond.

Remember this about Kennedy -- he doesn't need any more minor-league development. Because of his college experience, he was far enough along this time last year that scouts and Yankee officials agreed that he wasn't going to get any better in the minors than he already was. Kennedy is what he is -- not a Cy Young Award candidate but possibly a major-league starting pitcher. If the Yankees get the guy he was last September, that'll be more than helpful enough. Kennedy didn't need to go to the minors to get more seasoning. He just needed to go there to get more confidence.

Based on the way it's gone for him in Scranton this year, I'm betting he's got it. And my pick for tonight is that Kennedy pitches well, the Yankees get to Jered Weaver, the Rays (who can't win on the road) lose again in Seattle and the Yankees wake up tomorrow morning 4-1/2 games out of first place.

I could be wrong, of course. It's happened before. But something tells me you're going to see the good Ian Kennedy tonight.